Impressed by the salesman who came to her salon in Preston, Lancs, in September, she signed a two-year contract to feature on a Ross website called Think students.com. Promising that it would be promoted heavily among students in Preston including at the freshers' fair, he boasted that Vanessa's student trade could double.

She was told the first payment of £122 would be debited from her credit card after 12 weeks so she'd have a chance to check the artwork.

But after just five days £122 was taken from her account - and what a waste of money it was.

The artwork was incorrect, no promotion took place at the freshers' fair and there were no sponsored nights at the university.

Vanessa tried to call the salesman but he never replied. She says: "I'm furious. They broke their promises and I've had no extra trade so I stopped them taking any more money from my account."

Also ruing the day a Ross salesman turned up at his clothes shop is Duncan Howarth.

From his Retro Rags store in Preston he told us: "I was conned - they should not be allowed to trade like this."

Then there is Stewart Keefe of Hampson's Garage who said: "We were naive, they pressured us to sign and we got absolutely nothing from it."

And publican Paula Bosworth of the New Britannia Inn, who said: "It was lots of money for nothing - we were just ignored." Hardly the "Instant hit with clients" that Ross proclaims. Ross has a long track record of this behaviour, as photographer Brian Nicholson, who runs Kelvin Photographic of Preston, knows to his cost.

In May 1995 he signed up to their scheme dubbed "Together Forever", paying a £183 deposit to feature in a promotional video.

The Ross sales team claimed couples planning weddings would get the tapes through local churches.

But when Brian checked with 17 of the clergy mentioned by Ross he found five had only one copy of the video, five had none at all, three had never heard of Ross Communications and four said they wouldn't get involved in such a venture.

Brian said: "It was a scam that preyed on small businesses."

Ross also trades under the names Medi-Vision and CPTV selling ad space on TV screens erected in public places. One Lancashire trader who joined Medi-Vision was horrified by the quality of the video.